This thread is just to share some knowledge to help you play games better or add more variety to making games. Here you can find tips on how to fight certain enemies, what the limits of your weapons are, and how to identify stuff. It's the general stuff, but some might not know certain things about enemies or what weapons are good for in certain situations.

These are just some of the techniques that I use. This is not a complete guide on the shooter; it is an abridged version that focuses on your game play. This will be updated when I have the time. Feel free to submit further tips or tricks via private messages and I will add them if they are good enough.

I am only covering the basic weapons because that is what the player will always have. When you start any ship game, you will always have 30 missiles, unlimited bullets, unlimited lasers, 5 mortars, and 15 mines. It is more than likely that a game will not grant the player specific power-ups, so it is wise to learn what these weapons can do.

The bullet is an unlimited ammo weapon. It has a far range, but a slower rate of fire and weak damage. It is very useful against many enemies. Most turret based towers require the player to go within a certain distance of the tower before it can begin shooting. The range of the bullet is farther than this and is most effective against missile launchers, disruptors, turrets, and tanks. It is useless against moguras, KOPTRS, and bugmeisters.

Missiles are a wary player's best friend. They come in two forms, bots and regular missiles. Regular missiles seek out enemy targets and immediately explode. They are sometimes unreliable and tend to hit the walls of the game and destroy themselves. The farther away you are from an enemy, the less reliable a missile becomes. Bots are similiar, but instead of exploding, they shoot bullets until they run out of energy. Unlike missiles, bots can hit the sides of a wall and keep going. Each hit against a wall takes away a considerable amount of energy however. Both missiles and bots are effective against every enemy except moguras. Bots are the most effective vs bugmeisters because they don't trigger the bugmeister's AI that enables them to run away. They are completely useless against moguras because they are underground.

The ray is perhaps the most effective weapon in the player's arsenal. It has a high damage rate that constantly fires, but has half the range of bullets. The ray is very useful fighting enemies that can move. It allows the player to quickly maneuver around enemies while still hitting them. The ray also can destroy bots and missiles. This is extremely useful when you are in close quarters with missile launchers and bot launchers. It is also useful against KOPTRS. KOPTRS can only be damaged when they are on their helipad and each landing time is about seconds. The ray is one of the only weapons that can take out a KOPTR quick enough before it can fly away.

The mortar is a cheaty weapon of sorts. It enables a player to take out multiple enemies that are clumped together from a safe distance. It has the highest damage out of the player's weapons and also has the slowest fire rate. It is useful because it can fly over obstacles can move out of reach objects closer to the player. An example is shooting a key so that it moves closer to the player without being activated. The mortar also has a unique ability that is linked to the player's movements. If a player is going full speed, a mortar will go twice as far. If a player is being bumped side to side or is stuck, the mortar will go straight up. This weapon is effective against most enemies. It can hit KOPTRS while they are flying, it can hit moguras, and it can turn bot launchers and tanks into allies. The only downside is that the mortar hurts all types of AI-based objects, including allied ones.

The mine is another useful weapon, particularly against movement-based enemies. It may be difficult for the player to attack an enemy that is constantly moving. To counteract this, the player can lay several mines in one place and run away. Enemies are locked onto the player, so they will follow the player's movements. This is helpful because the player can lead enemies into a trap and kill them quickly. Mines are most effective against moguras, but only when a mogura is attacking. They also can be placed beyond walls and trigger unseen enemies.

What are polygon mechanisms? Why would you need one? How can I efficiently use one that doesn't horribly lag the creator? These are all major questions when it comes to using polygon mechanisms.

Polygon mechanisms are just that, mechanisms. They enable a shooter creator to create trap doors, shifting mazes, puzzles...basically anything that someone can think of. Polygon mechanisms are widely used in many featured shooter games nowadays and will continue to be a major part of games to come.

How to create one? That can be simple or difficult, depending on what you want the mechanism to do. In this thread, I will be showing how to create a simple one. If enough of you inquire, I can do more complicated ones like memory locks, disruptor locks and revolving polygons.

We will start with a simple template. All mechanisms should be 2 wide corridors. 2 wide is very important. Any narrower or wider and the mechanism is rendered useless. The length of the mechanism depends on how many polygons you will be using. I will be using only one.

Now that you have the template, you will need to add 2 teleporters of the same type to both sides.

Once you have added the 2 teleporters, you will need to add a wingman, heavy ally, or an ally robot. It is crucial that you do not use the touch to activate allies.

With the ally added, you can now add the switch polygons. The first switch polygon is the trigger polygon. When triggered, it will start and stop the mechanism. This will come in handy later when a player needs to turn off the mechanism to reduce lag. It will be an invisible line with a box on the side so that it can be re-clicked if needed.

Now that the trigger polygon is added, we can add the pushers. These pushers will push the ally from teleporter to teleporter. This is what makes the mechanism a mechanism. The repeated action creates a constant turning on and off effect, which is what we want.

Now, the final bit. A final switch polygon will be added for a narrow corridor. When activated, this polygon will constantly turn on and off, making it much harder to get pass the corridor. The trigger switches will need to be placed on each side of the corridor (You can opt out of using the orange switch if you so desire). The final polygon will be placed inbetween the two.

With all the pieces in place, we now have to time the mechanism. The green switch will come right after the invisible wall. This will make it so that the mechanism activates when stepping on the green trigger switch. The orange switch will be placed on the first teleporter to ensure that there is enough delay between opening and closing.

That's it! The mechanism is complete. What you use it for is up to you. There are much more complicated mechanisms out there, but that is for another time.